News Archive: Max January 2008

A few nights ago, Jen, Moo (Jen’s brother), and I got to talking about
our all-time top computer games. Naturally, this quickly devolved
into a bitter, insult-strewn debate about whose top-ranked games
were ground-breaking titans of their time (mine), and whose were
mindless, derivative trifles (theirs, except where overlapping with mine).

We did settle on the criterion that we should rank games based
on the impact they had on us personally. This still left plenty of room
for argument. Initially we were going to pick our top 5, but
this got pushed out to 10. I still had too many classics
left over, so successfully argued for 15, plus an “Honorable Mention.”

Three days later, we were still debating and re-arranging our lists.
Clearly this was an important topic for us. In fact, it was surprising
how much we cared. Games aren’t usually
considered up there with books or movies, but these ones all meant
a lot to us. They left a lasting impression and we wanted to
give them their due.

So here is the result. My list:

Elite
(1984, Commodore 64): My mother bought me this for Christmas when I was
about 11. I don’t think I did anything else that year. I never made it to
“Elite” status, though. At least, not in the game. Ha ha!

Doom
(1993, PC): Ranked this highly for the multiplayer: Jen and I played together.
Not competitively. Oh no. Jen lacks that part of the brain
that lets you distinguish between reality and a computer game,
which means if we play head-to-head, she tries to kill me in real life.
We play co-operatively. (Fifteen years of marriage, bud. Fifteen years.)

Shattered World
(1990, MUD): A MUD is an online text-based game, usually
swords-and-sorcery based. You type in commands, like, “kill goblin”, and
read the responses, like, “The goblin dodges your swing. The goblin cleaves
your head from your shoulders. You die.” I wrote tons of content for this
game
when I should have been studying for my marketing degree.

Age of
Empires II (1999, PC): I wrestled with the ethics of including
a sequel when the original was much more, uh, original. But while Jen and I lost
countless hours to both, this is the one we really pounded. Our strategy to defeat
the computer-controlled hordes was to pour arrows upon the endless tides of
units throwing themselves against our walls until our opponents had consumed every single
resource in the game, reducing themselves to small groups of peasants standing
around with nothing to do. Then we would ride out and butcher them.

Half-Life
(1998, PC): I was roundly ridiculed by Jen and Moo for not fitting HL2
into my list as well, but although it’s an amazing technical achievement, I didn’t
really feel it, you know? No, Jen and Moo didn’t buy that, either.

Paradroid
(1985, Commodore 64): Ah, brave little 001 droid. I used to get up at 5am to play this before school.

Portal
(2007, PC): The only game I’ve played through since Fin was born. Portal is wonderful.
I especially love how its story evolves from nowhere.

NetHack
(1987, PC): Sadistically difficult game that can strike terror into your heart by
revealing a “D”.

Warcraft II
(1995, PC): The reason that for about five years there every single game on
the shelves was a Real Time Strategy. Zug zug!

Diablo
(1996, PC): Diablo II was fantastic, too. But this game I knew I wanted the second
the demo loaded.